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Researchers at the Centre for Bioelectric Interfaces and the Centre for Cognition & Decision Making of the Higher School of Economics utilized electroencephalogram (EEG) and the event-related potential (ERP) technique to study neural activity during simultaneous interpretation of continuous prose. Using event-related potentials as an index of depth of attention to the sounding fragment, the researchers assessed the competition between memory and auditory perception during simultaneous interpretation. The results of the study were published in the journal PLoS ONE.

HSE University is pleased to announce an international competition for experimental research laboratories in such breakthrough fields of contemporary physics as Quantum Technologies and Novel Functional Materials. The winners will have a chance to head and develop new research laboratories based out of the HSE Faculty of Physics.

Working paper

Why manipulate? Performance measurement and data manipulation in regional and local government

The problem of credibility of performance information is understudied in the public administration literature. Only a few scholarly articles examine the issue of (dis)honest performance reporting. Despite the widespread acceptance of the importance of public sector transparency and accountability, little attention has been devoted to examining the factors that promote or undermine honest performance reporting in government agencies. This articles presents the results of a survey of 177 municipalities who were asked to rate the credibility of 33 performance indicators used to evaluate performance of local governments. The survey demonstrates that some indicators are trusted significantly less than others. Statistical analysis shows that least trusted indicators exhibit a peculiar dynamics that Kalgin (2014) describes as “prudent data manipulation”. Theoretical explanations of this are presented based on different theories of bureaucracy.

Public sector performance measurement may be affected by data manipulation. This study empirically explores strategies of data manipulation used by civil servants at the regional level in Russia. 25 civil servants from three regional governments were interviewed. Two strategies were identified: “prudent” bureaucrats kept a low profile by reporting “more-normal-than-real” figures; “reckless” bureaucrats aimed at inflating figures to maximize credit. Systematic application of these strategies produced a detectable bias in the overall performance data which was estimated using a nation-wide performance dataset covering the period of 2007-2011 (with a unified list of over 300 indicators from 83 regional governments).

The way that local authorities in OECD countries compare and benchmark their performance varies widely. This paper explains some of the reasons behind the variations. The current local government benchmarking schemes in Europe—their governance, coverage and impact—largely depend on the institutional characteristics of the respective administrative and local government systems (in other words, the starting conditions).

The problem of credibility of performance information is understudied in the public administration literature. Only a few scholarly articles examine the issue of (dis)honest performance reporting. Despite the widespread acceptance of the importance of public sector transparency and accountability, little attention has been devoted to examining the factors that promote or undermine honest performance reporting in government agencies. This article presents the results of a survey of 177 Russian municipalities who were asked to rate the credibility of 35 performance indicators used by regional government to evaluate performance of local authorities. The survey demonstrates that some indicators are trusted significantly less than others. The following statistical analysis shows that least trusted indicators exhibit a pecu-liar dynamics that Kalgin (2014) describes as “prudent data manipulation”. Theoretical explanations of this are presented based on different theories of bureaucracy. The article was prepared within the framework of the Academic Fund Program at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) in 2014–2015 (grant № 14-05-0009) and supported within the framework of a subsidy granted to the HSE by the Government of the Russian Federation for the implementation of the Global Competitiveness Program.

Smoking is a problem, bringing signifi cant social and economic costs to Russiansociety. However, ratifi cation of the World health organization Framework conventionon tobacco control makes it possible to improve Russian legislation accordingto the international standards. So, I describe some measures that should be taken bythe Russian authorities in the nearest future, and I examine their effi ciency. By studyingthe international evidence I analyze the impact of the smoke-free areas, advertisementand sponsorship bans, tax increases, etc. on the prevalence of smoking, cigaretteconsumption and some other indicators. I also investigate the obstacles confrontingthe Russian authorities when they introduce new policy measures and the public attitudetowards these measures. I conclude that there is a number of easy-to-implementanti-smoking activities that need no fi nancial resources but only a political will.

One of the most important indicators of company's success is the increase of its value. The article investigates traditional methods of company's value assessment and the evidence that the application of these methods is incorrect in the new stage of economy. So it is necessary to create a new method of valuation based on the new main sources of company's success that is its intellectual capital.

The paper examines the institute of minimum wage in developed and transition economies and in a number of the developing countries. First of all the institutional mechanism of minimum wage fixing is considered. One of the sections explores the dynamics of absolute and relative levels of minimum wage. The special attention is paid to the impact of the institute of minimum wage on the labour market. The author considers the mechanism of transmission of the minimum wage increases on the employment and unemployment dynamics. The paper also contains the result of the empirical research. The experience of many countries witnesses that large increases in minimum wage levels lead to the stagnation of the employ-ment, especially of the disadvantaged groups. The negative effect is larger for the companies with higher share of labour costs and more active use of unqualified labour, that is small businesses and agricultural enterprises. One of the main conclusions is that the minimum wage is not an effective tool of the poverty reduction as the majority of the recipients live in households of average and upper average income.

The article is devoted to the study of the authoritarianism prevalent in the mass consciousness of Russians. The article describes a new approach to the consideration of the authoritarian syndrome as the effects of the cultural trauma as a result of political and socio-cultural transformation of society. The article shows the dynamics of the symptoms of the authoritarianism, which appear in the mass consciousness of Russians from 1993 to 2011. This paper proposes a package of measures aimed at reducing the level of the authoritarianism in Russian society.

This paper studies the background and guidelines of discussions about the concept of sovereignty
and its limits. The paper begins with a short historical analysis of the processes that took place in
Soviet Russia that led to the “parade of sovereignties” in the early 1990s. Afterwards, the author
sketches the different approaches and doctrines upheld by the Constitutional Court of Russia in
several decisions concerning sovereignty problems. The paper focuses on the vertical dimension
of sovereignty, i.e. on different conceptions adopted by the federal and regional powers in postSoviet Russia regarding the legal status of the member-republics of the Russian Federation. The
development of the doctrine of the Constitutional Court of Russia in this matter is quite
illustrative as to the legal arguments used to protect the integrity of the Russian Federation
against the diverse disintegrative strategies pursued by the regions.

This work looks at a model of spatial election competition with two candidates who can spend effort in order to increase their popularity through advertisement. It is shown that under certain condition the political programs of the candidates will be different. The work derives the comparative statics of equilibrium policy platform and campaign spending with respect the distribution of voter policy preferences and the proportionality of the electoral system. In particular, it is whown that the equilibrium does not exist if the policy preferences are distributed over too narrow an interval.

This is the collection of articles devoted to the research of the Armenian Republic in different aspects. These reports were presented on the conference “The Republic of Armenia 2010: Previous Experiences – Future Prospects” in 2010 in Tehran.

The article examines "regulatory requirements" as a subject of state control over business in Russia. The author deliberately does not use the term "the rule of law". The article states that a set of requirements for business is wider than the legislative regulation.

First, the article analyzes the regulatory nature of the requirements, especially in the technical field. The requirements are considered in relation to the rule of law. The article explores approaches to the definition of regulatory requirements in Russian legal science. The author analyzes legislation definitions for a set of requirements for business.
The author concludes that regulatory requirements are not always identical to the rule of law. Regulatory requirements are a set of obligatory requirements for entrepreneurs’ economic activity. Validation failure leads to negative consequences.

Second, the article analyzes the problems of the regulatory requirements in practice. Lack of information about the requirements, their irrelevance and inconsistency are problems of the regulatory requirements in Russia.

Many requirements regulating economic activity are not compatible with the current development level of science and technology. The problems are analyzed on the basis of the Russian judicial practice and annual monitoring reports by Higher School of Economics.

Finally, the author provides an approach to the possible solution of the regulatory requirements’ problem. The author proposes to create a nationwide Internet portal about regulatory requirements. The portal should contain full information about all regulatory requirements. The author recommends extending moratorium on the use of the requirements adopted by the bodies and organizations of the former USSR government.

Nechiporuk D., Belokurova E., Nozhenko M. Working Papers of Centre for German and European Studies. Centre for German and European Studies, 2011. No. 10.

The paper describes some results of the international project “Improving Societal Conditions for the Baltic Sea Protection” (PROBALT) conducted by the international team of scholars from Finland, Germany and Russia in 2009-2011 in the framework of the broader BONUS+ programme. The project rested on the assumptions that the relatively unsuccessful actions aimed to protect the Baltic Sea cannot be explained only by lack of scientific knowledge of the existing ecological problems. Here, an important role is played by the sociocultural factors that influence the course of environmental policy at different levels: supranational, national and subnational. Special attention was drawn to the problem of eutrophication or enrichment of water bodies with the so called biogenic substances (phosphates, nitrogen, etc), which leads to massive algae bloom and lack of oxygen for marine organisms. Therefore, the principal aim of the research was to define the societal conditions for the protection of the Baltic Sea in the cases of the EU and some coastal countries like Finland, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Russia. But in this Working Paper only the results of the research on the Russian case are presented.